FB: New England Small College Athletic Conference

[Nescacman]

One could reasonably claim Cosgrove earned it, but to suggest it is a slam dunk is a tad silly. 
Wesleyan lost 30 extremely talented seniors coming into the year and I believe they obtained their first back to back NESCAC title in school history.  Either choice would not surprise me.

First off, it is no longer "Coach of the Year"...it is now "Coaching Staff of the Year"....another NESCAC nod to participation trophyism and political correctness.

As we said earlier, Wesleyan's coaching staff should win it but Colby's staff probably will win it. However, in true NESCAC fashion, we would not be surprised to see a tie and both staff's split the award this year.

Wouldn't be shocked to see the same thing happen for Defensive Player of the Year. We think Wesleyan's Dylan Connors deserves it but we could see him sharing it this year with someone TBD.

As far as OPOTY and ROTY, Wesleyan's Fitz and Kelly are shoo-in winners, IOO.

NM

[nescac1]

Luke Harmon has been a dominating presence for three years and I continue to think is worthy of at least co-DPOTY. 

[Nescacman]

Luke Harmon has been a dominating presence for three years and I continue to think is worthy of at least co-DPOTY. 

Harmon was an excellent player but not sure he was even the best player in 2025 on the Lord Mammoth's defense. We were very impressed with several of their DL. They were a force for Amherst this year. Extremely disruptive.

[Charlie]

I still believe despite the hiccups Amherst had and you take away those losses to Bates & Colby they would have been 7-2 and played the top tier teams extremely well. If they do not loose players to graduation they are going to be tough next year. I would put them into Coaching staff of the. year discussion. No one predicted they would end up 5-4 and play this well.

Other then Colby beating Trinity which Trinity gave them they did not beat any top level teams other then first game. At least Amherst beat Williams while Colby was pounded.

[MapleBBQChicken]

I still believe despite the hiccups Amherst had and you take away those losses to Bates & Colby they would have been 7-2 and played the top tier teams extremely well. If they do not loose players to graduation they are going to be tough next year. I would put them into Coaching staff of the. year discussion. No one predicted they would end up 5-4 and play this well.

Other then Colby beating Trinity which Trinity gave them they did not beat any top level teams other then first game. At least Amherst beat Williams while Colby was pounded.

At some point the games have to matter, Chuck. We can't base awards off of hypothetical records had certain games gone differently. Colby did beat Trinity, and they beat Amherst too. Wesleyan and Colby are the only coaching staffs that should have a shot, and for my money it's Wesleyan that deserves it with the back-to-back titles.

I would also posit that Middlebury's RB Connor McClellan should be in the OPOY conversation. Fitzsimons had a fantastic year, and would be a deserving winner. I just think that leading the NESCAC with both 959 rushing yards (106.6 per game) and 13 TDs (second most was 9) warrants a discussion. At the very least he should be first team all-conference.

[lumbercat]

McClellan is an all conference player but not OPOY. Ryan Lynskey had a better RB year last year before injury this year and he got very little attention for OPOY.
The OPOY should be Fitzsimmons who carried the NESCAC champs all year long. He made their RBs and receivers better. Never saw other skill position guys get so much better as the season advanced than they did at Wes this year. Fitsimmons was the glue, the offensive leader that made that team so good.

[muleshoe]

I still believe despite the hiccups Amherst had and you take away those losses to Bates & Colby they would have been 7-2 and played the top tier teams extremely well. If they do not loose players to graduation they are going to be tough next year. I would put them into Coaching staff of the. year discussion. No one predicted they would end up 5-4 and play this well.

Other then Colby beating Trinity which Trinity gave them they did not beat any top level teams other then first game. At least Amherst beat Williams while Colby was pounded.

That's a lot of "coulda, shoulda, woulda" Chuck. They also needed a 'pick 2' against the Purple Cows 5th string, freshman QB to win that game.

I think the CSOY is clearly between Colby and Wes. To NM's point, I bet the league gives them a shared title, because sharing titles is what NESCAC football seemingly does best.

[NESCACFball24/7]

This could be the first time in a few years we haven't seen an exodus of talent from the league to the transfer portal right after the season looking to move up to the D1 level. Will be interesting to see if this remains true

[nescac1]

NESCAC all-conference out:

https://nescac.com/news/2025/11/19/nescac-football-awards-announced.aspx

From a Williams perspective, I was a bit surprised to see Jaffe sneak on (although the lack of impact TEs in NESCAC this year surely helped), and to see Luke Mangini excluded, but every other Eph on there I would have picked as well.  Of course, the late-season injuries were the story for the Ephs, as all-conference players Johansen, Yedid, and Falls all missed the Amherst game, as well as Jimmy Montesano, who would have easily been first-team all league had he been healthy for enough of the season.  Hopefully all those guys return 100 percent next year and are joined by Owen McHugh and Brady Stahelski, who both missed the entire season with injuries.  Montesano's brother is already committed to the Ephs, and Falls' brother has been offered, which hopefully ends any possibility of those guys considering transferring up (I think both probably could if so desired). 

The Ephs do have to replace a lot of blocking on the edge with two all-league tackles graduating as well as two all-league blocking tight-end / HBs, but the Ephs always find top-tier athletes to fill the HB role and have several massive experienced back-ups at the OT position who should be ready to step in.  I also suspect that with so many experienced QBs and receivers coming back, the Ephs will open up the offense a bit next season and rely less on the running game.  All-league tackle Maguire has another year of eligibility as well, though I've not heard  for sure that he's returning (edit - I believe, however, that he is).  Jon Oris is also a huge loss for the Eph offense, but Williams will be absolutely loaded at both QB, WR, and TE, and the OL should again be stellar. 

Williams brings nearly everyone of note back from a young defensive unit and with (hopefully) better health and a LOT more experience, I suspect will be much stronger defensively next season.  I really like next year's potential D-line led by Gale, Yedid, and Baker, who looked like he will be a force assuming he's a full-time defensive end next season, and that is an area where the Ephs seem to be adding some strong recruits. 

[Charlie]

This could be the first time in a few years we haven't seen an exodus of talent from the league to the transfer portal right after the season looking to move up to the D1 level. Will be interesting to see if this remains true

Only one I know of so far is O'Brien WR from Trinity. I guess he figures on trying the portal although with one year eligibility and an injury prone career do not know how many takers there will be on a one year stint.He does not have the same pedigree as Tomlinson & Lutz of the past or size as well as eligibility. I did hear about rumblings out of Wesleyan that the Freshman WR Kelly could be moving on word is it that Uconn & Stonehill are possible landing targets. At this stage all conjecture.

I am curious when these kids enter the portal do they leave after Christmas break for Spring ball at these programs ?

In the case of O'Brien for Trinity or any senior would that mean forgo graduation if not would that not put them further behind pack not getting a Spring football season in or do they just red shirt for another year.

I do remember the C for Bates Pierotti last year entered the transfer portal but then played this year for Bates before getting hurt.So not sure on the rules for this.

[lumbercat]

Pierotti entered the portal last year. He then left the portal and announced that he was staying at Bates. He was then injured in the offseason in a non football accident and did not play a down for Bates this year. He is now on rehab and intends to return to Bates next year as a Sophomore.

[MapleBBQChicken]

McClellan is an all conference player but not OPOY. Ryan Lynskey had a better RB year last year before injury this year and he got very little attention for OPOY.
The OPOY should be Fitzsimmons who carried the NESCAC champs all year long. He made their RBs and receivers better. Never saw other skill position guys get so much better as the season advanced than they did at Wes this year. Fitsimmons was the glue, the offensive leader that made that team so good.

Fair enough, Lumber. I was glad to see McClellan land on the first team.

Interesting that Colby won CSOY. Not sure I would've picked them, but certainly not crazy, and I'm just glad there weren't co-winners

Put me solidly in the anti "everyone's a winner" camp

[Trin9-0]

Devanney sent out a year-end recap email to alumni and there were a few interesting nuggets. Nolan O'Brien finished second in the OPY voting. We usually aren't privy to who the runner-up would be, even though in most years we can posit a pretty good guess. It speaks volumes about the respect he garnered from coaches across the league despite being slowed by the foot injury for most of the year. I had actually forgotten that O'Brien had an additional year of eligibility remaining. Certainly wish him well in the portal and his departure will be a significant loss for the Bants.

Most of us have noted that this is the most balance the league has seen in many, many years (ever?) and Deveanney certainly agrees. He wrote "this era of NESCAC football is at its most competitive top to bottom". For the first time in league history no team finished the season with fewer than two losses. Since 2000 there have been 31 teams to win or share a piece of the NESCAC title; the 2025 Trinity and Wesleyan teams rank just 18th and 25th respectively among them in average margin of victory.

Devanney added that Trinity already has 19 commitments for next year's recruiting class and gave praise to the College's new President and Athletic Director for their support of the program. Given who returns for the Cardinals it appears Wes will be likely be the team to beat next season but I'll put the Bants right behind them as the other school most likely to earn the NESCAC's first ever DIII Playoff bid.

[NESCACFball24/7]

This could be the first time in a few years we haven't seen an exodus of talent from the league to the transfer portal right after the season looking to move up to the D1 level. Will be interesting to see if this remains true

Only one I know of so far is O'Brien WR from Trinity. I guess he figures on trying the portal although with one year eligibility and an injury prone career do not know how many takers there will be on a one year stint.He does not have the same pedigree as Tomlinson & Lutz of the past or size as well as eligibility. I did hear about rumblings out of Wesleyan that the Freshman WR Kelly could be moving on word is it that Uconn & Stonehill are possible landing targets. At this stage all conjecture.

I am curious when these kids enter the portal do they leave after Christmas break for Spring ball at these programs ?

In the case of O'Brien for Trinity or any senior would that mean forgo graduation if not would that not put them further behind pack not getting a Spring football season in or do they just red shirt for another year.

I do remember the C for Bates Pierotti last year entered the transfer portal but then played this year for Bates before getting hurt.So not sure on the rules for this.

Depends on the situation. For some kids if they are able to graduate early (after this semester) and get to their new school for spring ball it generally give them many more opportunities because they will have another 6 months at the new place.


What you said about kelly is interesting because lets be honest stonehill isnt exactly the pinnacle of football and giving up weseleyan for one of the worst teams in the worst conference in FCS would be kind of strange.

[Nescacman]

This could be the first time in a few years we haven't seen an exodus of talent from the league to the transfer portal right after the season looking to move up to the D1 level. Will be interesting to see if this remains true

Only one I know of so far is O'Brien WR from Trinity. I guess he figures on trying the portal although with one year eligibility and an injury prone career do not know how many takers there will be on a one year stint.He does not have the same pedigree as Tomlinson & Lutz of the past or size as well as eligibility. I did hear about rumblings out of Wesleyan that the Freshman WR Kelly could be moving on word is it that Uconn & Stonehill are possible landing targets. At this stage all conjecture.

I am curious when these kids enter the portal do they leave after Christmas break for Spring ball at these programs ?

In the case of O'Brien for Trinity or any senior would that mean forgo graduation if not would that not put them further behind pack not getting a Spring football season in or do they just red shirt for another year.

I do remember the C for Bates Pierotti last year entered the transfer portal but then played this year for Bates before getting hurt.So not sure on the rules for this.

Depends on the situation. For some kids if they are able to graduate early (after this semester) and get to their new school for spring ball it generally give them many more opportunities because they will have another 6 months at the new place.


What you said about kelly is interesting because lets be honest stonehill isnt exactly the pinnacle of football and giving up weseleyan for one of the worst teams in the worst conference in FCS would be kind of strange.

Take everything from Chuck with a huge nugget of salt...he's the "Sergeant Schultz" of the D3Boards.